Department of Chemistry, University of York

The Department of Chemistry at the University of York opened in 1965 with Sir Richard Norman being the founding professor of the department. The department has since grown to over 820 students and provides both undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Chemistry and other related fields, with the current Head of department being Professor Caroline Dessent.

Centre for Hyperpolarisation in Magnetic Resonance
The Centre for Hyperpolarisation in Magnetic Resonance is a interdisciplinary research centre jointly-run with the Department of Psychology, with a focus on the development of techniques for nuclear magnetic resonance and magnetic resonance imaging. The centre is primarily located on York Science Park housing high resolution NMR machines and a 7 T pre-clinical MRI scanner. Recent research has focused on Nitrogen-15 Hyperpolarized Nuclear Magnetic Resonance to study Nitrogen cycle Synthons. The centre has also been working on research involving the tracking of anticancer agents for use in MRI.

Centre of Excellence in Mass Spectrometry
Created in 2008 the centre is a joint venture with the Department of Biology and is currently based in the York Science Park. Research areas are very broad and range from therapeutic protein discovery to supporting archaeological research.

Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence
The research centre is associated with both the Biorenewables Development Centre and Centre for Novel Agricultural Products and focuses on making changes to help promote low carbon and bio-based economy. Recent research had led to exploration of harvesting fog for a renewable source of water and development of absorption techniques to reduce the impact of pollutants on the environment.

Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories
Established in 2013, the research group studies and develops technology for atmospheric science with key areas of focus including air pollution as well as ozone depleting substances. The group also runs the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory studying the effects of nitrogen oxides and various other pollutants are having on the environment.

Developments
Since 2010 the Department of Chemistry has undergone £29 million of renovations with the development of phase 2 of the Dorothy Hodgkin research building. The 3 story building costing £9.4 million provides space for 100 researchers with research interests ranging from medical chemistry to solar energy. A secondary development consisting of chemistry F block was completed in 2014. The site provides new undergraduate facilities and social space. The top floor of the research building also houses the Green Chemistry centre of Excellence. The centres for Biorenewables Development and Centre for Hyperpolarisation in Magnetic Resonance have also recently undergone developments.

Associated departments and research centres

 * Biochemistry
 * York JEOL Nanocentre
 * York Structural Biology Laboratory (Department of Biology, University of York)
 * Archaeological and Paleoenvironmental Chemistry